COLUMBUS — Ohio State gave Jake Diebler a memorable debut as interim coach, as the Buckeyes stunned the second-ranked Purdue Boilermakers 73-69 on Sunday.
Bruce Thornton scored 22 points and Jamison Battle added 19 points to lead Ohio State (15-11, 5-10 Big Ten) in the upset win.
Chris Holtmann was fired on Wednesday after several disappointing seasons in Columbus. The struggling Buckeyes came into Sunday having lost nine of their last eleven games. Purdue (23-3, 12-3) was favored by 8 1/2 points.
“What a resilient group,” said Diebler, who was overcome with emotion when he greeted his family on the crowded court. “We have some great young men in there who came together at a high these last few days in a way that I don't know if any of us fully anticipated that they could get to in a short amount of time.”
Ohio State took a 35-30 at the break, showing a lot energy in front of their home crowd. The Buckeyes pushed their lead to 12 six minutes into the second half.
Despite being held to 11 scoreless minutes in the first half, Battle turned into a difference-maker in the final 20 minutes for the Buckeyes.
Purdue began to close the gap down the stretch and it seemed like only a matter of time before center Zach Edey took the game over.
But it never happened.
Purdue tied the game at 65 on a 3-pointer by Lance Jones with 1:39 left. But Battle responded with a jumper and sank a pair of free throws with 34 seconds left to give Ohio State a 69-65 lead.
Edey cut the deficit to two with a jam with 16 seconds left.
The Boilermakers were forced to foul Thornton, who made both of his foul shots to put the lead back to four.
Edey registered his 58th career double-double in the loss with 22 points and 13 rebounds. But the real story for the Boilermakers was that they turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 22 Ohio State points.
“We just need to take care of the ball,” Edey said. “We outrebounded them. We got more possessions that way, but we can’t let them get on transition. We have to play on a half-court game. ... It’s tough to win the game when a team scores 22 points in transition.”
Purdue host Rutgers on Thursday night. The Buckeyes will visit Minnesota on Thursday.
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